


Pumpkins Scream in the Dead of Night

by panicmoonwalk



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Established Relationship, Fancy Dress, Fluff, Halloween AU, Just a little something because Halloween is the bestttt, M/M, OT5 Friendship, OT5 throw a party, Plenty of Halloween related things!, Pranks, Shots galore, Suspense, slight gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 23:22:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2486009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicmoonwalk/pseuds/panicmoonwalk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Louis along with their three idiotic bandmates throw a cracker of a Halloween party until things start going from fun to freakishly frightening.</p>
<p>Cue plenty of shots, an incredibly annoying zombie and a figure in the window that definitely wasn't invited...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pumpkins Scream in the Dead of Night

**Author's Note:**

> Because Halloween is quite possible one of my favourite holidays I couldn't resist this little number, so enjoy!
> 
> Plenty of thanks to Liz for looking it over and hopefully not being too traumatized by my horrendous typos <3

“Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house-“

“Shut up Harold, I will not have you blaspheming the most universally loved holiday aka the 31st of October aka Halloween by even the mere mention of ‘the c word’.”

Louis resolutely ignored Harry’s not at all loveable pout and ridiculous puppy dog eyes by turning back around to finish hanging the life-size glow in the dark plastic skeleton, the skull to which he’d stuck a rather fetching portrait of Liam’s laughing face, to the living room door, before stepping back to admire his handiwork. Apparently decorating fake bones with embarrassing pictures of his bandmates as well as spending a rather inappropriate amount of time stretching out cotton wool was just something he did now, ever since Harry had coerced him into co- hosting a Halloween party because ‘it’ll be cute and I’ll blow you afterwards’.

“Lou?” Harry’s deep voice shook him out of his Halloween decoration reverie and he turned around, trying to hold in a snort of laughter when it became clear his cotton wool antics had resulted in Harry’s usual curly locks resembling more of a Cruella de Vil do than their usual flowing glory. Harry’s face and hands were also speckled in red, and Louis would probably be having kittens by now if it wasn’t for the fact he’d been the cause of them when he’d been just a tiny bit over zealous with the fake blood.

“Yes love?” Louis replied, all the while trying to maintain a straight face and either not fall about laughing or be so ridiculously endeared he melted into a pile of goo on the floor. At least the latter would be in fitting with the theme, anyway.

“Do you think the lanterns look okay?” Harry asked, his expression neutral but the front tooth worrying his bottom lip giving away his slight anxiety if Louis slated the pumpkin shaped lanterns he’d spent ages sticking fake tea lights to and artfully stringing around the living room walls. But really, like Louis could ever even be slightly critical of anything Harry did ever. Ever.

“They look wonderful darling.” Louis replied, smiling softly when he saw the pleased look on Harry’s face followed by the slight blush on his dimpled cheeks.

Louis slowly made his way past the sofa, hooking his chin over Harry’s shoulder when he reached him and resting his hands on Harry’s hips, squeezing the slight love handles that settled there gently, because out of everything that made Harry Styles the cutest little kitten going, his love handles were definitely up there in Louis’ professional opinion.

Louis softly brushed his lips against the side of Harry’s neck, smirking slightly when he bit down gently on the soft spot under Harry’s ear and felt his body stiffen just a touch.

“Right,” Louis said, somewhat reluctantly pulling away from Harry and looking towards the kitchen. “It’s high time I go back to flicking those little plastic spiders at Niall, you gunna be okay in here blowing up balloons?”

Their mirrored smirks were not only evidence towards their ‘creepy telepathic twin mind thing’ as Liam so graciously put it (“twins would be incest Liam, god, think before you speak next time”) but also did well in highlighting both of their incredibly filthy minds.

“I’d say I’m pretty practised at blowing things by now,” Harry answered, his wide mouth still stretched in a lewd smile, “If you know what I mean…”

“The blow up pumpkin in the corner knows what you mean Haz, get better at flirting.” Louis pecked the pout of Harry’s face before smacking his bum lightly and sashaying out of the lounge in to the kitchen, stopping still with a squawk when he caught Niall with half a gingerbread Dracula in his mouth, the pile from earlier having diminished significantly.

Niall froze comically for a moment upon Louis entrance, before shrugging and taking a large bite, severing Dracula in half and dropping crumbs all over the coffin patterned tablecloth. He then proceeded to alternate between bites and drizzling vivid red icing into his mouth from the piping bag he was supposed to use to decorate the biscuits, instead of, you know, eating them.

Louis shook his head in mild disgust but decided the crumb shower he would undoubtedly receive was not worth the chastising that would go largely ignored, so he edged around Niall, the latter of whom was now enthusiastically slopping icing over the cake shaped like a corpse Harry had spent 2 hours slaving over this morning.

Louis headed towards Zayn, who was hunched over the oak table at the back of the kitchen, a selection of knifes in various sizes laid out neatly to the side of his black iphone which was blasting out Naughty Boy’s latest.

What looked like the set from ‘The Cheshire pumpkin massacre’ surrounded Zayn’s leather clad form, chunks of the vivid vegetable scattered all over the floor whilst seeds and pulp fell in unattractive mounds all over the table and chairs.

The masterpiece, of course, was the row of intricately carved pumpkins, one with the stretching form of a black cat cut in minute detail, others with various other spooky characters and then the must have’s like the 1D logo and one with miniscule individual portraits of them all which looked like copies of the photos from the ‘our moment’ perfume ad, but this time with each of them sporting a tiny pair of pointed fangs. Louis definitely preferred this version, although if that particular pumpkin happened to be the one that was the first causality in the inevitable food fight of the century later, then well, that was just a damn shame really.

Louis’ sharp pat of encouragement on Zayn’s shoulder was rewarded with a death glare and a large carving knife waved in his face, so he backed off quickly toward Liam, who was looking far too gleeful for Louis’ liking standing over a ridiculously large glass bowl Harry had just ‘produced’ this morning, giving Louis a funny look when he swore blind he’d never seen it before in his entire life.

“Louis.” Liam greeted him with a smirk far too devilish for 3 o’ clock in the afternoon. “Shouldn’t you be doing something productive instead of wandering around annoying everyone else?”

Louis raised his eyebrows and gasped in mock outrage, taking a dramatic step back and laying a hand over his heart. “Excuse me Liam, I’ll have you know I am doing a fantastic job of being ‘the overseer’, fuck you very much.”

Liam just rolled his eyes fondly and went back to stirring the concoction in front of him, hunched over the large bowl which was filled to the brim with thick, red liquid, looking a lot like blood which was probably the point, Liam not looking far from an evil witch stirring her latest potion.

Louis informed Liam of this, the latter of whom gave a snort of laughter before making an attempt at a witches cackle, which Louis did not hesitate to tell him was absolutely terrible and sounded more like Niall when someone was tickling his feet, Zayn’s scowl in their direction and nudge on his volume key a clear agreement.

Liam caught Louis’ eye as he peered apprehensively into the bowl, “If I told you what was in there, I’d have to kill you.” Liam said with an excited smile, nervously shuffling the black plastic cups which were decorated with bat wings at the side of the infamous punch.

“Oh god Liam,” Louis started with a groan, “This isn’t one of those times when you get too excited and end up bloody, poisoning everyone or summat is it? ‘Cuz I am telling you now, if anyone gets vomit or any other bodily substance on the new living room carpet Haz’ll have your head on a stake outside, Game of Thrones style, and I ain’t kidding!”

Liam just giggled with barely contained glee, completely ignoring Louis’ completely justified warning. Hell, he’d spilt water on the carpet the other week, _water_ and Harry didn’t talk to him for 2 days, making little snuffling remarks about the ‘obvious’ stain Louis couldn’t even see when he pressed his eye to the carpet and how Louis had ‘no respect for interior design’. _Water!_

Leaving Liam to fill up the larger pumpkins with ice and bottles of alcohol, only of the correct Halloween colours though because Harry had planned everything down to a t, Louis headed over to the fridge to check on his own masterpiece.

He’d had brilliant fun making all sorts of different flavours of jelly for his vodka jelly shots, pouting when the first batch hadn’t set, because according to the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom that was one Harry Styles he’d ‘used like 95% vodka of course they’re not going to set Lou.’ Well he didn’t look quite so smug with a face full of alcoholic jelly sludge now did he (until Louis’ proceeded to lick it off his neck and chest which led to, well, you know…). His second (cough third) batch of shots had set nicely however, he’d made about 600 (only a slight exaggeration), as well as half filling a mountain of plastic syringes he’d got off Ebay for a fiver (not at all weird) with red sours. Honestly, he was well good at this party planning lark.

Smiling in satisfaction at the multitude of Halloween goodies in the fridge, to which he’d contributed at least 20% to, he shut the door, quickly running through the list in his mind of what was left to do.

Greg was coming over in an hour to help set up the dining room, they’d removed all the furniture and breakables, which took a lot longer than it should have when Harry broke out in an emotional monologue over every single photograph they removed from the wall (“remember Paris Lou, your jumper, your hair! What a time to be alive”) and every trinket from the bookshelf (“Look at the china elephant, Lou, remember the china elephant! “Haz, I wasn’t even there when you bought it”), to serve as a makeshift dance floor. Greg needed to set up his DJing equipment and install the strobe light so that it could become the ‘dance room’. Harry had insisted upon a different theme for every room, although Louis had put his foot down on the basement being the ‘make out room’, he didn’t want people having sex in front of his Spiderman statue, thank you very much.

Time seemed to accelerate alarmingly fast at that point, with everyone rushing around with last minute finishing touches that somehow involved Niall getting tangled in one of the giant cobwebs that adorned all the doorways for literally about 20 minutes, and Louis nearly shitting himself for about the 8th time when he walked past the wooden coffin in the front hallway that upon detecting any movement caused a large zombie figure to sit up with a high pitched scream. The bloody thing had been there for a week and Louis nearly wet himself every time it went off (which was suspiciously every time he was walking past it and not another certain curly haired individual). When he’d set it off recently getting a glass of water in the middle of the night he could swear a little bit of wee came out, his incredibly manly (ha) scream being met with a ‘don’t you piss on my carpet!’ yelled from the bedroom, Louis rewarding Harry with a sharp nipple pinch in revenge which of course led to… things because Harry is a kinky bastard and Louis is just not very good at revenge.

Shortly before their guests arrived, the 5 boys gathered in the kitchen with a drink. Shockingly they’d all vetoed Liam’s punch and gone for one of Louis’ vodka jelly’s (the gloating smirk Louis kept shooting at Liam was totally deserved), Louis’ trying to stop Harry from fretting over last minute details.

Their costumes all looked bloody (great, now he was making puns, Harry was really starting to rub off on him……..ha) good if he did say so himself, Zayn’s now longer hair and dark scruff with added extras making him the perfect werewolf, Niall being almost completely wrapped in bloody bandages as a mummy, only his blue eyes and a few tufts of bleached hair on show along with a ‘how am I gunna fookin’ piss lads!’, Liam made for a brilliant Batman, filling out the latex in a way Louis never could, and him and Harry… well. Harry had insisted that they do a couple’s costume, so Louis was expecting him to have planned something cute and funny, most likely related to one of his stupid puns or like, matching banana costumes. But no, Harry had surprised him once again, and Louis was now stood in his kitchen dressed as a psychotic doll because Harry had decided they were going as ‘Chuckie’ and ‘Bride of Chuckie’. Three guesses on who was the bride.

Louis pulled absentmindedly at the strap of his dungarees, the outfit which Harry had cooed over delightedly, ignoring the terrifying doll make up Lou had spent an hour on in favour of giggling over how ‘cute’ Louis looked. He was not supposed to be cute, he was supposed to be terrifying, although Harry did look adorable himself and quite frankly far too at home in his wedding gown. Louis prepared himself for a night of not so subtle hints about weddings, as if the bridal magazines and webpages left open on his laptop just weren’t obvious enough.

“Happy fookin’ Halloween!” Niall yelled with a grin, raising his little shot glass and clinking it against the other’s, who echoed his sentiments.

They all downed their shots, Louis smirking with slightly masochistic pleasure as they all coughed and spluttered with the strength.

Zayn was just setting up his ipod to play his carefully constructed Halloween playlist in the kitchen, as Harry hastily rearranged the toffee apples and Niall helped himself to a pumpkin cupcake when the phone rang, the shrill ringing of such a domestic item when surrounded by what could only be described as utter madness causing them all to jump.

Louis caught Harry’s eye and shrugged, it was probably just some boring idiot cancelling at the last minute, although why they’d call the landline when a thing such as texting exists he’d never know.

Louis shuffled over to answer the phone, picking it up off the receiver before clearing his throat and putting on his best scary voice, growling a creepy “Hello” into the mouthpiece.

He frowned slightly when he received no reply, he could swear someone was breathing on the other end. His confused expression must have alerted Harry because the taller boy was quickly by his side, a hand resting on his lower back as Harry leaned in closer to listen.

And because the rest of the lads were nosy idiots they call came over and huddled around Louis, listening to the weird breathing with matching puzzled expressions.

“Hellloooooo,” Niall called into the phone, all of them jumping when the breathing on the other end became more erratic before uttering a “seven days…you will die in seven days.”

The phone clicked dead and the five boys were left staring at each other, the chilling voice echoing through Louis’ mind as Harry’s hand tightened on his hip.

Louis was just about to break the tense silence with a joke when Zayn’s ipod, plugged into the speakers on the counter playing ‘monster mash’ softly in the background, jumped erratically, the volume of the speaker suddenly screaming out ’HE DID THE MONSTER MASH!’’ before jumping again and completely cutting out.

Instinctively all 5 boys grabbed each other, Harry letting out a whimper and Niall a yell as they huddled together staring at the offending item, the silence stretching out as their heartbeats hammered.

The doorbell rang at that moment, a sharp ‘ding- dong’, which echoed round the house, causing them all to jump once more and clutch at each other tighter, silent for a few hammers of Louis’ heart before Niall let out a chuckle.

“Bloody Halloween,” Niall chortled, “got us crapping our pants already!”

The rest of them joined in with Niall’s laughter, rolling their eyes at their idiocy, Liam straightening his tight costume as Zayn fiddled with his ipod with a frown, ‘monster mash’ soon back to echoing softly round the room.

When the other three ran to answer the door Louis pulled Harry back, noting the tension in the younger boy’s shoulder’s as his teeth worried his lip once more.

“Hey,” Louis said softly, reaching for Harry’s hand and entwining their fingers. “Don’t worry Haz, was probably just a stupid prank by some kids who happened to type our number.” He squeezed Harry’s hand and gave him a reassuring smile, ignoring the way his stomach fluttered slightly when Harry gave him a soft, dimpled smile in return.

“Probably something you would do,” Harry said teasingly, not being able to resist twanging the strap of Louis’ ridiculous dungarees.

“Definitely.” Louis agreed, stepping closer to Harry and smiling up at him. “Have I told you, you look positively grotesque tonight, bride of mine?”

Harry preened before bent down and nuzzled their noses together, “Why thank you, you also look really quite horrendous.”

“That means a lot to me.” Louis replied, looking up at Harry with what he knew to be his most soppy smile, which was okay because Harry was looking at him like he’d hung the moon and stars and they were both as bad as one another, really.

Harry just smiled his ‘Louis smile’ and closed his eyes, Louis closing the gap and meeting Harry’s lips in a chaste kiss, moving closer to deepen it when Harry let out a squawk.

“Our make up!” Harry cried, jumping back from Louis and holding his hands up in front of his face as if Louis were a pariah. “We can’t ruin our make up!”

“Oh how I wish this was the first time you’d said that.” Louis muttered, only feeling slightly disgruntled as he knew they’d end the night snogging each other’s faces off anyway, makeup be damned.

Harry just poked his tongue out at Louis before grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the front door where they could hear the excited chatter of guests arriving and the warming ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s’ at their decorations. Let the night begin.

*

A couple of hours in and Louis was pleasantly buzzed, thriving in his element of working the room, Harry more often than not at his side as they greeted and chatted with their friends, Louis feeling all warm and fuzzy inside being in a room full of the people he loved most, the people who knew about his life, his _real_ life and accepted it happily, all of them knowing Harry was the bridge to his Chuckie and he was the Chuckie to… Harry’s bride…? He’d definitely had too much of Liam’s punch. He’d finally succumbed after Liam wouldn’t stop wafting a cup of the grim looking liquid under his nose, the stench of whatever Liam had put in there making his eyes water.

Louis was just making a lunch date with Gemma, the latter dressed as the perfect ‘corpse bride’, when he felt a familiar large paw on his waist, Harry moulding his large form easily to Louis’ back and hooking his chin over Louis’ shoulder.

“Hello little brother,” Gemma said, “You two look utterly ridiculous.”

“We know,” Harry replied with a lazy smile, the way he nuzzled into Louis’ neck telling him just how many jelly shots Harry had undoubtedly consumed in the past hour.

Gemma rolled her eyes but it was fondly, before turning back to drag ‘vampire’ Lottie into the dance room, where Greg was expertly mixing a Rihanna hit with Michael Jackson’s ‘thriller’.

Harry’s arms snaked around Louis’ waist as he giggled into his neck, softly swaying their bodies together and not being at all subtle about pushing his crotch into Louis’ bum.

“Louieeeee Nick made me have three monkey brain shots… monkey brains, Lou, they were grimmmm,” Harry’s drawl became much more apparent when he was sloshed, his giggling in Louis’ ear not at all endearing.

Louis pulled a face because of course this was down to old Grimshaw, he still hadn’t forgiven him for the state he got Harry in the last time they’d gone out and Harry had vomited all over his newest pair of converse. Louis had got the first dig in though, going with the classic ‘Oh no, Nick it’s meant to be a fancy dress party, where’s your costume’, when Nick was decked out in full Frankenstein gear, complete with green face paint and fake bolt. Nick had chosen to give him the finger in response before kissing his cheek hello, definitely not doing his part in making it look like they were locked in a public feud when most of the time they just texted each other videos of animals doing funny things and affectionately referring to each other as ‘twat’.

“That sounds disgusting, baby.” Louis replied, turning himself around to face Harry as the taller boy rested his hands on Louis’ hips as if they were made to go there (probably were).

“Was.” Harry said with another giggle, leaning in to brush his lips against Louis’ lips but misjudging and getting his nose instead.

“Oops.” Harry said softly.

“Hi.” Louis replied, because they were sentimental idiots and he loved the way it made Harry blush even after all this time.

The aforementioned blushing idiot captured Louis’ lips in a soft kiss, slyly using his tongue to coax Louis’ mouth open, pressing their bodies closer together.

Louis pulled back slightly, distinctly aware of the family and friends in the room who probably wouldn’t appreciate a live sex show (and some who would), causing Harry to pout.

“Want to kiss you proper.” Harry grumbled, chasing Louis’ lips.

Louis looked round the room quickly, everyone either dancing or engrossed in conversation and laughter. No one was paying attention to them, bloody perfect.

Louis motioned towards the stairs discreetly. “Upstairs? Just for a few minutes though Haz…” He trailed off when it became apparent Harry was leaving him in the dust, skipping up the stairs eagerly as his white gown billowed out behind him. Honestly, Louis was in love with a complete moron. But that didn’t stop him from leaping up the stairs after said moron with just enough, if not more, giddiness.

Harry pounced on him as soon as Louis edged through the door to their bedroom, pushing him against the wall before he could even shut the door and kissing him with gusto.

Louis’ hands immediately fisted into Harry’s hair as Harry’s large hands cupped his arse, their tongues fitting together seamlessly as their bodies moulded into one another to make one, as easy as breathing after years of stolen passion pressed up against the walls of bathrooms, dressing rooms and well, basically anywhere, really.

Harry kissed him sloppily but Louis liked it, liked everything about kissing Harry really, although he was distinctly aware of the niggling voice in the back of his mind that he wished would shut up harping on about how their family and friends would probably be looking for them.

Louis broke the kiss just as Harry forced a leg between both of Louis’, whining at the loss as they both breathed heavily, eyes glassy and hair dishevelled.

“Haz,” Louis panted, “Reallyyy don’t want to jizz in these dungarees.”

Harry barked out a laugh before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, giving Louis an appreciative look up and down.

“You know it really is quite disturbing that you seem to be aroused by me in this outfit.” Louis stated, not being able to resist poking a finger into one of Harry’s dimples.

“Can’t help it if you look so bloody cute,” Harry mumbled, breaking his slouch to adjust and pull down his dress.

Louis opened his mouth to reply, with something cutting of course, when a creaking noise came from just outside their bedroom door.

Both of them jumped, the glimmer of light peeking through the crack in the door illuminating the alarmed look on Harry’s face at the risk of being caught and berated for ‘doing this at every party for god sake you two!’ The board creaked again and Louis strained his ears for footsteps, his heart hammering loudly as a shadow fell over Harry’s face, the hallway light blocked by the shape of a figure, just for a second before it disappeared.

Louis stared at Harry wide eyed, the figure had come from the direction of their spare room so definitely wasn’t just a straggler using the upstairs bathroom, and Louis could have sworn he saw no one up here when he down the hall, the door to the spare room had been wide open.

Shaking himself out his overdramatic thoughts, Louis reached for Harry’s hand, rubbing his thumb over Harry’s cross tattoo.

“Probably just someone nosing around,” he said, painting a bright smile on his face to try and get rid of Harry’s alarmed expression. “Probably Niall, let’s go downstairs Haz.”

Harry nodded and let Louis pull him out of their bedroom, Louis trying not to dwell on the fact the figure would have definitely heard them but for some reason hadn’t announced their presence. When he glanced back as they made their way down the hall, the door to the spare bedroom was closed.

 

*

When Louis had finally managed to come up with an excuse to detach himself from Ben and his cringe worthy plans for their next music video, he caught Zayn’s eye across the room, Zayn jerking his head in the general direction of the patio and Louis nodding gratefully.

“Sick party bro,” Zayn drawled once they were through the back doors and onto the decking that overlooked the vast expanse of fields and scenery that surrounded their private country retreat. The cool air was a welcomed respite from the heat of packed, dancing bodies inside, the fogging of Louis’ breath making him ache for a more substantial exhale.

Zayn, seemingly reading Louis’ mind, offered up his packet of cigarettes, one of which Louis took with a nod of thanks.

“Cheers,” he replied, flicking the lighter and waiting a beat for the end to catch. “Yeah it’s wicked, everyone seems to be having a laugh.”

Zayn hummed a response, pausing to take a drag and exhale loudly, his mouth opening in a response which was cut off by the creak of the patio doors opening, Batman stepping outside with a loud ‘phew!’

“Fucking hot in there!” Liam said, the alcohol in his veins no doubt causing his increase in volume, Louis could swear some birds literally took flight as soon as he opened his gob.

Zayn nodded, again offering his packet of cigarettes this time to Liam who accepted one eagerly.

“Cheers dude.” Liam said, his ‘no homo laddy dude palness’ becoming much more apparent after a shot or five.

Louis let Liam blabber on about the party as he edged towards the end of the decking, knowing Zayn would listen. He stared out over the open fields with a sigh of content, the faint thudding of the beat inside background noise as he stared into the peaceful darkness.

Louis was just in the process of turning around to add a quick remark about Niall’s inability to do an upside down beer bong when movement in an upstairs window caught his eye.

‘Probably some dicks trying to shag in our bed,’ he mused, scanning the second floor for lights but seeing nothing. He was just about to stub his cigarette out in the ash tray when a flash of movement upstairs caused him to snap his head up and he stood frozen in place, his heart hammering,

A hooded figure was stood at window on the second floor, its silhouette illuminated by the moonlight, staring down at them outside.

“Fucking Christ!” Louis yelped, the back of his neck prickling.

Liam and Zayn looked at him in surprise, Zayn holding back a ready grin to laugh at him for whatever stupid thing he’d probably done like getting ash on himself again, but they both straightened at the alarm on Louis’ face.

“What?” Liam asked, concerned.

Wordlessly, Louis pointed up at the window, his heart still loud in his ears. Zayn and Liam ambled over to him, Liam swaying slightly, and both stared up at the second floor.

“What are we looking at, Lou?” The figure was gone.

“Wha- it was just there!” Louis stammered, “A creepy- arse figure in the window!”

“By ‘creepy-arse’ figure you know it’s Halloween right? At the Halloween party we’re throwing at your house…?  Probably just someone in their costume going for a piss.” Zayn said, sharing an eye roll with Liam.

“No they were proper weird, staring at us all hooded an’ shit, I swear...” Louis trailed off, confused. Whoever it was looked creepy as fuck, sneaking round their house… it was probably bloody Grimshaw going through Harry’s knicker drawer or whatever looking for something incriminating (which he’d no doubt find and share with his thousands of listeners, the arse).

Louis was just about to open his mouth to attempt laughing it off when a sharp ‘crack’ came from his right, causing all three boys to jump around at the same time, Liam with a sharp intake of breath.

“Wawaszat?” Liam babbled, clutching at the fur on Zayn’s arms.

Louis and Zayn both shook their heads wide- eyed, when another loud ‘snap’ sounded, this time from the left, all of them once again jumping in that direction.

A series of rustling from some nearby bushes saw them all clutching at one another, the rustling growing louder with the acceleration of their hearts before softening, an ominous slithering sound gradually growing closer all that they could hear in the darkness…

“Fuck this shit!” Liam cried, breaking free towards the door at a run, the other two hot on his heels.

“Fuck was that?!” Zayn stammered breathlessly when they slammed the door shut behind them, the exertion of actually doing a small amount of physical exercise causing him to lean on his knees panting, Liam fiddling with his cloak, a concerned expression on his face.

Louis found himself actually shivering, despite the heat of entering the kitchen akin to sinking into a hot bath. He was supposed to be the manly, man man of the house but here he was almost wetting his pants over what was most likely a bleedin’ hedgehog or sumat.

“You okay babe?” Harry’s familiar drawl immediately loosened the knot in Louis’ stomach, a comforting hand thumbing the back of his neck. It was no surprise Harry was immediately by his side, the kid probably had some sort of warning signal alerting him anytime there was a shift in Louis’ physiological responses. There was probably an app.

Niall ambled over just as they caught their breath, having somehow managed to get his greedy little mits on a bottle of Dom Perignon, something he probably nicked from Harry and his ‘secret’ stash.

Louis nestled in closer under Harry’s arm, the younger boy’s warmth immediately diminishing the goose bumps.

“Right creepy outside,” Louis said with a stronger voice than he anticipated, “Saw a fucking creepy figure in one of the upstairs windows then there was a load of weird noises in the garden…” Louis trailed off when he noticed Harry’s smirk, knowing he probably sounded like he’d had too much cherry liquor.

“It was really freaky!” Liam piped up defensively, Zayn nodding in agreement.

Niall looked round at them, wide eyed. “You don’t think it has anything to do with that weird phone call earlier do you?” He said in a low voice, the conversation probably being more eerie if it wasn’t for the fact they were all dressed like complete pillocks, Harry was in a wedding dress for fuck sake!

“Dunno,” Harry said, biting his lip and tightening his hand on Louis’ shoulder. “M’ sure s’ nothing though.”

“Yeah,” Zayn nodded, still looking like he was trying to convince himself. “Let’s just have another drink and a dance, yeah?”

Louis shared a nervous look with Liam before murmuring his agreement, all of them choosing to decline Niall’s offer of sharing ‘his’ champagne after they’d seen him slobber all over it, choosing to knock back some tequila slammers, the burn of the liquid making Louis’ eyes water but the quick buzz in his veins loosening his muscles and allowing him to shrug off the night’s antics for a leap around with his boys.

Greg had the beat loud and the strobe jumpy, the flashing light creating jerky motions of the boys laughing faces as they danced, Louis always aware of the comforting hand on his waist as he grinded back against Harry, Zayn to his side doing his irresistible body roll, Liam laughing at Niall’s exaggerated shimmy.

The danced in a blur, drama forgotten in laughter as Harry twirled, Louis did the robot and Liam attempted to break dance (“Kindly do not break your arm again Liam none of us are in a fit state to drive you to A & E”).

The boys stood in a huddle after engaging in a large group dance pile with Stan, Johnny, Gemma and Lou, gasping for their breath back. Greg was just winding down ‘Rather Be’ and in the moment of quietness they all heard it.

“Seven days.”

The chilling rasp was gone quicker than it came, the five boys all frozen is shock before frantically twisting their bodies left and right for the source of the utterance, the strobe light quickening so all they caught were flashes of each other’s stunned faces, their friends laughing and dancing around them, no one looking suspicious or shifty. It was as if the voice had no owner, and Louis grabbed Harry’s hand, the strobe lighting up Niall’s scared expression as Louis turned to pull Harry towards the doorway and through the throngs of people, ignoring those who shouted their names and pulling Harry out into the hallway, knowing the other boys would be following.

Once in the quiet foyer he turned and surveyed the others, his head going into business mode and trying to ignore the pounding of his heart.

“Right.” Louis said, “If that’s one of you fucking around then say it now.”

They all glared at him, Harry looking particularly offended

“Heyyyyy,” Harry drawled, “I wouldn’t do that.”

“Not you babe,” Louis said reassuringly, petting Harry’s curls until the furrow between his eyebrows lessened. “I was thinking, more like Niall or summat’”

“Oi!” Niall cried, aghast. “like I fookin’ would, fuck, M’ only just 21 fer fuck’s sake, I don’t wanna be murdered yet, so much more te’ live for!”

Louis rolled his eyes as Zayn patted Niall’s arm consolingly, Liam’s puppy eyes alight with worry. “Chill Ni,” Louis relied with a sigh, “It’ll be fine, we just gotta-“

“Lads. What is that?” Liam interrupted Louis with a shaky tone, pointing a trembling finger towards the stairway.

“It’s a fucking staircase Liam now is really not the time.”

“No…look.”

Louis turned with a sigh, following Liam’s shaky hand as it pointed towards the first stair. He could swear all the breath whooshed from his body when he saw the steady drip of red onto the tiled floor.

Niall let out a whimper, Zayn a quiet ‘oh shit’ as Harry squeezed Louis’ hand so tight he was surprised it didn’t just drop off and flop around on the floor Addams Family style.

“Haz I swear to god if you say one word about your bleedin’ carpet…”

“Wasn’t!” Harry replied in a suspiciously quiet voice, trying and failing to pull Louis back as he edged nearer the stair case towards what he really hoped was just a minor drink spillage and not what everyone else’s minds had immediately jumped to.

Louis bent closer to examine the stain, and with a gulp, slowly lifted his head and followed the splattering from the first stair up to the top, the pools of red liquid erratic. He felt kind of like he was on some sort of true crime show, which would have been cool if it wasn’t for the potential dampener on his corker of a Halloween party.

Louis turned back to look at the others, the four boys all huddled together in their ridiculous costumes, doing a grand job of looking like fearless villains.

“We’ve got to go see what’s up there.” Louis stated, the reaction in the form of various ‘definitely not’, ‘fuck no’s’ and an ‘I’d rather eat my own eyeball’ from Niall.

“Guy’s, someone could be fucking hurt, come on!” Louis was just about to step towards his idiot, spineless bandmates and drag them upstairs when several things happened simultaneously. The first was a large ‘bang!’ from upstairs, the second was the foyer light flashing once, twice, three times before cutting completely and the third was the actual bane of Louis’ life, the coffin zombie, sitting up with a shriek and a cry of ‘seven days, seven days, seven days!’ echoing around the foyer. And yep, Louis had definitely wet himself.

All five boys screamed, bounding together towards the staircase, pushing and pulling at each other violently to be the first one up and away from whatever the fuck was downstairs (Louis won of course).

Panting, he screeched to a halt, the 4 boys behind him comically coming to a crashing halt into one another as Louis blocked the hallway.

The landing was dark save for one light on coming from the spare room, illuminating the fresh splattering of blood that dotted the light carpet leading towards the half open doorway.

“Louuuu,” Harry whined, “Niall’s getting his stupid feet all over the bloody carpet, what if he’s messing with crucial police evidence?!”

“Oi!” Louis heard behind him along with some shuffling and a muffled ‘ooft’ as fist collided with flesh.

“Shh!” He hissed, “Come on!” Louis carefully started edging towards the door at the far end of the hall, all his nerve endings standing to attention, his breath coming out in quick pants.

Louis tiptoed down the corridor, his band mates at his heels, trying to ignore the whispers of ‘ouch, get your stupid elephant feet off me,’ ‘well you know what they say, big shoes, big-‘ ‘big fat head, yeah we know,’ ‘heeeeyyyyyy’.

As they neared the door Louis’ stomach was twisted in knots, the puddles on the carpet becoming larger. Louis held his breath as he poked his hair through the doorway, shoulders tense as he opened his eyes to face whatever was inside.

Louis raked his gaze around the room, the eggshell blue bedspread and curtains Harry had picked out looking the same as usual, the white rocking chair Harry had no so subtly bought in the corner. Everything looked normal until he spotted the tan leather boot sticking out from the other side of the bed.

“Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god.” Louis’ mouth was dry, his brain not computing as he stumbled forward, trembling, the constant chant of ‘oh no oh no oh no’ stomping through his head as he turned the corner and-

The lifeless form of Nick Grimshaw lay in a pool of his own blood on the carpet, eyes glassy and staring.

Everything froze, Louis ears were ringing but he could here in minute detail the boy’s gasps of horror, Harry’s cry. He opened his mouth-

The room plunged into darkness, Louis’ scream was already half out as the others shrieked and yelled, Harry’s horrified ‘No’ as he clutched at Louis echoing through his brain. Louis reached out blindly for anything that he could do use to help, ready to fight whatever it was as Niall screamed in his ear.

A booming laugh echoed round the room and Louis froze, confused.

The lights flickered on and a familiar head of ginger hair stood in front of them, doubled over with laughter, camera of his iphone pointing directly at them.

“Your fucking faces,” Ed spluttered, tears rolling down his cheeks as Harry had his face completely buried in Louis’ neck, Niall had literally jumped into Liam’s arms sobbing loudly, Zayn was crouched on the floor with his hands over his ears and his eyes squeezed shut, and Nick. Well, Nick was shockingly not dead anymore and was instead rolling around on the floor clutching his side, eyes squeezed shut with the strength of his laughter.

“You fucking kidding me?!” Louis shrieked, charging towards Ed and punching every part of him he could reach as Ed tried and failed to ward him off whilst pissing himself laughing.

Harry was kicking the still weeping Nick on the floor with chants of ‘you bastard, you fucking bastard’, Niall was still sobbing into Liam’s shoulder as Liam shot death glares at Ed, upon opening his eyes Zayn had marched straight over and stuck his head out of the window, frantically puffing on a cigarette.

“Best. Prank. Ever.” Nick stammered, wiping under his eyes and finally managing to sit up now that Harry had stopped kicking him and had instead collapsed in a heap on the floor.

“You fucking wankers.” Louis snarled, “Was that you all along? With the fucking ‘seven days’ lark!?”

“Yeah,” Ed replied breathlessly, “Fucking brilliant if you ask me! I will cherish this video forever, I will play it at your wedding, at the birth of your child, your 40th birthday, your-“

Well, a fist in the stomach definitely did a good job of shutting him up.

*

After the party had wound down and the last few stragglers had left and Niall had finally stopped crying, the five of them sat at the kitchen table, ignoring the carnage surrounding them in favour of one last beer.

“I have a very particular set of skills,” Liam began. “Skills I have developed over a long career. I will find them, and I will prank them.”

“Hear hear,” Niall echoed sleepily. He’d refused to talk to Ed which lasted all of 10 minutes until Ed had brought him a pint, Zayn had disappeared and only just resurfaced smelling strongly of something illegal but no longer looking like he’d jump out of his skin at the smallest of sounds, Harry had bitched about his carpet until Nick had caved and agreed to pay for a carpet cleaner if only for him to ‘shut his fucking mouth’ and Liam looked like he’d aged about 12 years, having shed his Batman costume claiming he ‘was not the hero Cheshire needs’. Louis was of course plotting ways in which they could get both Ed and Nick back, each plan more dastardly than the next. He was going to end them.

*

Later, when he was snuggled up in bed with Harry, he brushed a kiss against the ‘Louis bird’ on Harry’s chest, quietly admitting “It was a really fucking good prank though.”

Harry chuckled quietly, leaning his head down to brush his lips against the fluffy crown of Louis’ head. “That it was, love, but we’ll get them back with something ten times better.”

Louis smiled dopily, pressing himself even closer against Harry as he felt his eyelids get heavy. “Oh we most certainly will,” he replied, stifling a yawn.

The combination of alcohol and being really fucking comfortable saw Louis quickly drifting off, and he was just slightly too far on his way to unconsciousness to hear the creak of the floorboard outside their door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading!
> 
> Come yell at me on [Tumblr](http://www.oceancolourpants.tumblr.com)


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